Well, time has come...fiddleheads are being harvested in Maine right now. Has anyone out there ever had the chance to enjoy these delicacies?

Here is a photos of what they look like!

Yes! When I was young, my Dad used to pick them when he was out fly fishing for trout in the Spring. I have bought them occasionally, but they are never quite as good as the ones my Dad brought home. They are like asparagus in that the sooner they go from the ground to the pot, the better they taste.

This is a once a year guilty pleasure for us. We go to Whole Foods and pay an outrageous price for them.

I love to stir fry them with garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil. I had them that way at a Chinese Restaurant in a small town and said, 'Yeh! that's the way to eat them!" You have to make sure they are well-cooked (but not mushy hopefully). We are in the midst of the season right here in New Brunswick also!

Wow, I have never heard of these. What are they, exactly, and what might one compare them to?

Ryan:

Fiddleheads are the young coiled fern leaves (about an inch in diameter) of the ostrich fern. Nearly all ferns have fiddleheads, but those of the ostrich fern are unlike any other. I think that they taste like asparagus.

The market was full of them last week - a 1 quart basket was $ 4.00

I like them served simply - steamed and tossed with a little butter, lemon zest, and freshly grated pepper.

Ryan, Fiddlehead is a fern in its unfurled state. They have a green taste, somewhere between asparagus and green beans.

Their flavor and texture, in my opinion is best enjoyed with as little seasoning as possible.

We saute them in just a tiny bit of olive oil and garnish with a tiny dash of salt and a bit of lemon zest.

Jerry, we were both answering at the same time.
Great minds think alike.
I envy your ability to get them that cheaply.

Ooh, I am a fan of both the green bean and asparagus, so this sounds mighty good to me. Something new to try out one of these days.

I love fiddleheads too!

One of the challenges of this vegetable is getting it cleaned properly. You had to remove the brown husk, and wash them really, really well to get all of the sand/soil out of them.

As others have said, I like mine lightly cooked with just a touch of butter and salt.

What's sad is that the season is so short. Two weeks is about the window here. But spring has arrived when there are fiddleheads, wild leeks, and locally-grown asparagus in the market. Yum!

WOW,I guess I am lucky to be able to pick them for free here in Maine. However, I usually wait til someone shows up a the produce market to buy them. I've had them twice this week, in fact my site makes reference to them!

Yes, cleaning them can be a challenge, but I read in our local paper the best way is to fill the sink with cold water and let the fiddleheads soak for a few minutes; this removes the brown stuff...you might have to do this a couple of times.

The good news is that the ostrich fern is one of the most common used in landscaping and is readily available in garden centres. So theoretically this delicacy can be available to everyone if they have the garden space (or a park they can raid in season).

OH....but they would be sooooo expensive that way! I guess I take them for granted sometimes, almost growing in my backyard. I have had about 5 feeds of them so far this spring.